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Am I a bad friend?

User Profile: brightPenny7945
brightPenny7945 June 1st, 2025

So I had this girl bestfriend for around 9 years (me being a guy). But lately I've been feeling quite bad regarding her attitude towards me. There have been times when I have been struggling mentally, and she has shown massive support. There were also a lot of times when she will be really nice to me, being supportive and lovely, to the point that I thought she might be flirting, but that is another topic. Now this couple of days she has been acting rude towards me for no reason. And there is this cycle everytime she tells me that she wants to do something either stupid or that is just a bad idea. First she tells me that she wants to do something dumb (for example texting her toxic ex or following one of her old exes on social media) Then I would calmly tell her that it is a bad idea. She would get mad saying that I'm giving unsolicited advice and she is free do to as she wants. Then when she does it, something bad happens. And she will come up to me lamenting it saying that she should've listened to HER OTHER FRIENDS who straight up just told her the exact same things I did. And I can't even say anything about it cause she will say that I'm being mean. She also has this thing where everytime I send her a picture of me hanging out with my friends, she would immediately talk about how they're either cute or not her type, I am not jealous but I'll just jokingly say that they are my friends and to back off a little. But one time she sent me a picture with her friends and one of them was actually really attractive. So I said that she was cute. She then proceeded to talk about how she would never be with someone like me because of my genetics, the city I live, or just because of my personality, I'm not the only one who sees the difference right? One thing that I forgot to mention is that 5 years ago I moved to another country, and next week I'm coming back. What hurts me is that just now I'm noticing all of these things and I might have to take the decision of cutting off our friendship, but I feel it would be wrong after just getting to see her after a long time. She's been struggling lately with her own amount for stress caused by college and the people she surrounds with. I try to support her but everytime I do she cuts me off, I feel like I gotta land the exact timing in order to know what she is feeling and be able to give her emotional support, specially because I know what it's like to deal with that stuff alone. Am I a bad friend for wanting to cut her off from my life, knowing it might hurt her even though it hurts me more to deal with her? Because is not even the fact that she makes me feel like I'm not being heard, or the fact that she is openly mean to me. It has come to a point where she is only nice to me when she is in a good mood. Sometimes she will compliment my looks, sometimes she would talk bad about the stuff I wear or buy. There are sometimes where I would sarcastically call myself handsome and act egotistical as a joke, just for her to say I have no right feeling that way because of my looks. She used to make me feel like I was deserving of love, now she makes me feel worthless. It might be because she is now dealing with some really hard times that are affecting her emotionally, but what about my emotions? Am I a bad friend for putting myself first for once? Even though I know that maybe I should be more patient with her, although it hurts?

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User Profile: Bryghton
Bryghton June 6th, 2025

@brightPenny7945

Being a bad friend? Not at all. It's perfectly okay to prioritize yourself, especially if her behavior is making you feel bad. I get that as her friend, you'd want to help her through this, but you are not responsible of her actions or behaviors at all.

You can be there for her, especially if she had decided to reach out on her own, but not at the expense of your own well-being. It can be hard to help someone when we ourselves are feeling bad, especially if they're struggling to help themselves and bringing others down with them. 

If you wanted space from her, that's perfectly understandable, you shouldn't have to deal with her behavior. Priotizing yourself doesn't make you a bad friend or selfish, you deserve to be treated better than that.